GTE Pro facing uncertain future

The FIA World Endurance Championship will soon be back on track at the 1000 Miles of Sebring following its long winter break. It may prove to be a welcome distraction given the rumours currently surrounding the future of the series’ two classes with works involvement, GTE Pro and LMP1.

Issues
plaguing the LMP1 category have been well-reported, and include the complete
shelving of new regulations for 2019 – and Porsche’s subsequent exit from the
prototype class – and the publication of the new “hypercar” regs for the
2020/21 season.

However,
the FIA and ACO – the authorities responsible for setting the regulations for
the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the FIA WEC – may have another imminent problem to
contend with.

The GTE Pro
class is currently enjoying somewhat of a golden era and currently the only
class in the WEC with entries from multiple automotive manufacturers. In the
current 2018/19 Super Season, five carmakers – Aston Martin, Ferrari, BMW, Ford
and Porsche – are battling for the title, with factory-supported efforts from
Corvette Racing also appearing at three rounds of the championship.

However, we may well be gradually reaching the denouement of what has been one of the FIA WEC’s biggest success stories to date. Ford initially announced their desire to go racing at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, in honour of the 50th anniversary of the marque’s first win at La Sarthe in 1966.

The
programme was initially only planned to span two seasons of competition, but
was promptly extended for a further two years in late-2016. This brings us to
2019 – and what WEC Magazin understands will almost certainly be the final year
of works-backed competition in GTE Pro for the Ford GTs.

That’s not to say that Ford GTs will continue to have a presence at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and perhaps elsewhere. US driver and team owner Ben Keating has purchased a car from the Blue Oval and will race it in the GTE Am class at the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, even though Ford initially ruled out that its cars would compete in privateer hands.

Another
major question mark hangs over BMW. The German marque returned to the 24 Hours
of Le Mans after a seven-year break in 2018 in its maiden FIA WEC season. Like
the Ford GTs, the MTEK-run M8s were originally planned to compete in the series
for two years, but the decision to combine the 2018 and 2019 seasons into one
Super Season means that two distinctly separate opportunities for championship
success have been merged into one, to the detriment of BMW.

Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche are understood to committed to the GTE Pro class in the long term, but with ten cars becoming six and the loss of Ford also perhaps not helping to tempt Corvette Racing to make the jump to the FIA WEC, it remains to be seen how the GTE Pro category will look moving forward.

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